


The Age of Clarke

by iamsnowwhite



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-15
Updated: 2016-03-15
Packaged: 2018-05-26 20:38:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6255025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamsnowwhite/pseuds/iamsnowwhite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It started in the 60’s. Or as Clarke likes to say, it ended in the 60’s. One night, one snow storm, one patch of ice, changed her life forever. And forever is exactly what she gets because after that one night, she can no longer age. </p><p>Or the Age of Adeline AU that I've been working on for months.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Age of Clarke

It started in the 60’s. Or as Clarke likes to say, it ended in the 60’s. 

Her father had just died of a heart attack, a year after her husband died the same way. Since the death of her father, her mother spends a lot of time with her. Abby Griffin also spends a lot of time with Clarke’s daughter; Carter. 

That’s why the toddler is at her grandmother’s house in the mountains on that particular night. 

The rain poured down, making it hard to see while driving. The road to her mother’s house is winding and small. It leaves little room for drifting. Then, it started snowing, and the rain water on the road turned to black ice. 

Around one particular curve, Clarke was driving a little fast. It was getting late, and she wanted to see her daughter. The ice caused her to slide and her car flew off the road. A small lake broke its fall, unluckily for Clarke. Her head hit the steering wheel and she blacked out. 

At that exact moment, as the car filled with water, lightning struck the lake. 

\---

Clarke woke up in the hospital with her mother and daughter sitting by her bed. Carter is playing with the necklace around her grandmother’s neck and smiling sleepily. 

Her mother notices that she’s awake and her face lights up. 

“Oh Clarke, you scared us there,” Abby says. Carter whips her head around to look at Clarke and climbs onto the bed. 

“Hi baby girl. Were you good for grandma?”

“She was just fine,” Abby tells her. 

“Momma owie?” Carter asks, pointing to a butterfly bandage on Clarke’s head.

“Yeah, mommy’s got an owie,” Clarke says with a nod. 

“Kiss it better?” the two year old asks. 

“Yeah baby, you can kiss it all better.”

Carter smacks her lips on Clarke’s forehead, causing Clarke and Abby to laugh. 

She doesn’t notice it until ‘76, and even then she barely sees anything. It just doesn’t seem right that she hasn’t changed in appearance since she was 26. On her fortieth birthday, she knows. Carter notices too. 

Clarke isn’t aging. 

She knows it isn’t fair to move Carter around, so she doesn’t get out much. Just to work, and back home. Carter does everything else, knowing people would ask too many questions otherwise. 

\---

Carter has gone off to college, leaving Clarke all alone. She moves around now, changing locations every so often so no one finds out that she isn’t growing old. 

She’s in California now. And that’s when she meets him. 

He approaches her one day when she’s walking her dog and he seemed handsome and nice. She agreed to go on on date with him, what can one date hurt?

He takes her to a nice restaurant in the city and tells her he’s a businessman. 

“What do you do, Clarke?” he asks as he sips his drink. 

“I work at the library,”  _ she always does.  _

“Ah, a nice _ quiet  _ job,” he chuckles. “You must be new to town, I haven’t seen much of you before.”

She shakes her head, “Just moved here actually. I’m sort of nomadic.”

“So you move around a lot? Doesn’t that get tiring?”

“Sometimes, but I love seeing new things, meeting new people,” she explains. 

Their waiter comes and asks if they want dessert, Finn looks to her.  

"Why not?" she says with a smile. 

Finn is kind and funny and caring. She spends the remainder of '82 with him, and the first few months of '83 as well. 

He's fun. Always taking her places. He's not her husband, no one will ever be, but Clarke enjoys spending time with him. 

She knows that eventually she'll have to end it, Finn deserves a family. He deserves a women who can give him everything Clarke cannot. 

She loves him, but she's not sure- even if she could age- that she could give that to him. 

Her husband was her first love, he showed her how to lose yourself in a person, how to let love take over and let go of her worries. He was her everything, all she'd ever wanted. They married when she was 20, had Carter when she was 24. They had known each other their whole lives and he was all she ever knew. Clarke isn't sure she can love another person like she loved him. 

But Finn is sweet enough, he loves her enough. He's passionate when he needs to be and tender other times. 

Her decision is made for her, though, when she sees Finn kiss an extremely attractive woman. He smiles at this woman like Clarke's husband used to smile at her. She's been played. 

Luckily, Finn doesn't see her. So she holds tighter to her dog's leash and heads home. That time was easy, leaving everything behind. She packed quickly and was in her car faster than she ever had been. 

She thinks Oregon will be a good fresh start. 

\---

Clarke knocks on the door and waits for the answer. She's not nervous, not anymore. The first few times had been terrifying, but now she's changed her identity so many times she wonders how other people don't. 

A scrawny man answers the door, greasy hair and a scowl on his face. He'd be attractive if he only cleaned himself up, Clarke thinks. But he looks young, too young. And she hates that he's doing this. 

"You know, I deal with a lot of criminals and I have a hard time believe you've done anything wrong..." he says as he hands her the passport, driver's license, and social security card. 

"I don't think I have either. Maybe I just want to be someone else." 

"Abusive boyfriend?" 

"Like your father is to you?" She's been alive for a long time, she's nearly 80 now, she knows a lot about a lot of things. It's easy for her to see the signs. 

"Look lady-"

"You're too young. You can't be more than 18." 

"Well I'm an 18 year old with a secure future. People like you pay me a pretty penny to 'be someone else'," he says, arms folded at his chest. 

"At least be safe." 

"You're not my mother," he snaps and she heads for the door. 

"I am not, but that does not mean I don't want better for you than being a criminal." 

She gives him one last glance before heading out of the apartment and back to her car. She's decided she likes Colorado, much better than California. Any place is better than California. 

Her apartment is small, but they allow dogs so she's happy. 

Wells means everything to her. All her dogs do. Stripes had been the first, a gift from her husband on her 21st birthday. He'd laughed when she told him the name she'd chosen, Stripes was a Dalmatian. 

Leah was next, she was Stripes’ daughter. Then Lilly, then Sally, and all the ones after that. They all came from Stripes, daughter, granddaughter, great granddaughter and so on. With her dogs she feels connected to her husband, even in such a small way. 

Her first day of work is tomorrow. She always works in the archives, trying to find anything of herself that she needs to destroy before anyone sees it. She's also having lunch with Carter in a week so it will be nice to catch up. She's just turned 52 and Clarke is excited to give her the gift she bought. 

\--- 

Clarke was born in the 40's. She was raised to be a lady, raised not to curse, and only argued when she lost her temper (which was happening more often the older she gets). But her boss is an asshole. 

Bellamy Blake walks around the library like he owns the world, only looking like less of an ass when he's reading. Then he actually looks quite beautiful, Clarke must admit. He looks peaceful as he sits at his desk with a book, concentrated and calm. 

But he is still rude, excessively so. 

When she walked in, the first thing he did was call her 'Princess', something that rubbed her the wrong way seeing as it was Finn's nickname for her. 

She doesn't think she'll be staying in this city for too long. 

Her second day is better, she's still not sure she likes Bellamy, but at least he offers to buy her lunch and friendly conversation while they eat. 

"Where are you from, Princess?" he asks, biting into his burrito. 

"I do wish you wouldn't call me that." 

"Stop talking like a princess, I stop calling you one," he smirks, something this confusing man does quite often. 

"I was raised to speak politely, not use slang like you often do." 

That is somewhat of a lie, when Clarke is with Carter she speaks like you'd expect a 26 year old to. But she's comfortable around her daughter and she knows Clarke's secret. Bellamy does not, so she's on edge. 

"What's wrong with slang?" he asks, one eyebrow raised. 

"Mr. Blake-"

"Come on, Princess. I told you to call me Bellamy." 

" _ Bellamy _ ," she says with a smirk of her own. "I know for a fact that you have several degrees, including a PhD. Using slang can be misleading. People might mistake you for someone unintelligent." 

"Well you only have a four year degree, Princess..." he doesn't sound antagonizing when he says this, more confused than anything else. 

Clarke would go back to school, she loved school, but using a fake identity to apply to college doesn't sit right with her. And when she first went to school, everyone was baffled when she still attended even after her marriage. She's lucky she has the degree she does. 

"Not all of us are as fortunate as you, Bellamy." 

He scoffs, "I am a lot of things, Princess. But fortunate is not one of them." 

"Well what are you then?" she asks, taking a sip of her drink. 

"I like to think I'm a pretty charming guy," he starts and they both laugh. "But you never answered my first question..." 

"Which was?" 

"Where are you from?" 

She takes a deep breath, "Everywhere. I move around a lot." 

"Why is that?" 

"I'm not sure," she lies. "For a while I was happy staying still, but I just don't think that's a possibility anymore..."

He studies her for a moment, searching her face. He probably thinks the same thing as the boy, that she left someone who hurt her. She gets that a lot, more than you'd think. 

As the week goes on, lunch becomes sort of their thing. Each day at noon, they take their thirty minute break, order their food, and sit down together to talk. 

She finds out, somewhat begrudgingly (she hates when her first impressions are wrong), that Bellamy Blake isn't such a bad man. 

She learns he has a sister, one that he helped raise. That he thinks very little of himself despite his cocky exterior. This she finds out from observation, from listening to how he talks. He tells her about his sister and uses words like 'strong' and 'extremely outgoing', but he uses no such words to describe himself. 

It surprises her that she ends up telling him about herself as well. She usually lies and makes up a story to differentiate her different lives. But she tells him the truth. Leaving out dates of course. And the fact that she has a daughter who is 52. 

By the time she goes to lunch with Carter, she's actually sort of sad to be missing lunch with Bellamy. 

"Hi mom," Carter whispers in her ear when they meet at the restaurant. 

"Good to see you, sweetheart," Clarke says and then they both take their seats across from each other. "So how have you been?" 

"Great, great. Amanda's pregnant, due in November," Carter tells her, sounding excited. 

Clarke puts on her biggest smile. She's happy for her daughter, but would love to get to know the family she's created. Carter got married when she was 27, had Amanda and Thomas when she was 29 and 32. She's happy, but they all think Clarke is dead. Everyone does. 

They can't know she exists. 

"That's wonderful," Clarke says. 

"It is," Carter smiles. 

"Well, it was your birthday a few weeks ago. I got you this," she slides the box across the table and Carter tears at the paper. 

Inside the box is a beautiful necklace, one that Clarke found at an antique shop from the year she was born.

"This is gorgeous, mom!" 

"It's from 1940, the best year ever." 

They both laugh at that. 

"So what's going on with you?" Carter asks. 

Clarke sighs, "Just work I'm afraid..." 

"Yeah no, I'm not buying it. Cough it up mom, there's something juicy here." 

"Fine, there is a man-"

"I love this already."

"But you know I can't act on that, Carter. Bellamy deserves someone who he can grow old with."

Carter shrugs, "So just have some fun.  _ You  _ deserve that." 

"It's not that simple, not after Finn." 

"So make it that simple." 

"How did you get so wise?" Clarke smiles. 

"My mom is incredibly intelligent." 

After that, Clarke makes it simple. She continues flirting with Bellamy, enjoying their lunches together. Their personalities clash in almost every way, and it's amazing. They debate things that clearly don't warrant a debate, and have a hell of a time doing it. He won't cut it out with the Princess thing, but Clarke is suspecting he only calls her that to get a rise out of her. 

When he asks her on a date, she's nervous. But she reminds herself that she's in control here and says yes. 

This date consisted of dinner at his place and then sex on his couch.

Clarke can honestly say she enjoyed herself.  

And they keep up with these dates, eventually he calls her his girlfriend and she guessed that she kind of is. She's happy again. 

Carter mocks her when she tells her about her relationship with Bellamy during one of their phone calls. But Bellamy is great, things are going well, she'll worry about her age when it comes time to. It's probably not the healthiest thing, but she's been alone for so long. 

She's hanging out at Bellamy's apartment one weekend, wearing one of his hoodies and not much else, when he springs it on her. 

"So my parents are inviting me and my sister to their house in the mountains next week. They wanted to know if you'd come?" he sounds nervous so she kisses him to remind him that he doesn't have to be. 

"Sounds fun." 

"Things are sort of awkward between me and my parents... They were our foster parents first then they adopted us, and I was already 15 by then so I was doing most things on my own but- I guess what I'm trying to say is-"

"You're nervous and don't want your parents to fuck this up?" Clarke supplies, smirk on her face. 

"Basically yeah," he chuckles. "But my sister wants to meet you too. And she probably will fuck this up, but not as bad as my parents." 

"From what you've told me your sister sounds great." 

"She is, but she likes to tease me and will probably bring up a bunch of embarrassing stories about me..." 

"Well you should just tell me all those now, get it out of the way," she suggests. 

He laughs, "Oh no, Princess. I see where you're going with this. Not gonna happen."

"I'll tell you an embarrassing story about myself." 

"You first then." 

"Alright," she moves onto his lap and gets comfortable. "When I was about four or five, I had this imaginary friend. She and I did everything together. She came to school with me, she ate dinner with me... She was like my best friend. And her name was Whyioughta. Like 'why I oughta' snap your neck for looking at my girl. But then one day, her name suddenly changed to Sabrina and no one questioned it." 

Bellamy tips his head back against the couch and laughs, "That's amazing!" 

"Now it's your turn, Blake," she pokes his chest. 

"Fine... When I was younger, Octavia used to have this game. It was called  _ Pretty Pretty Princess _ believe it or not, and you'd dress up with earrings and crowns as you played, and she somehow got a picture of me while we were playing it one day. And she fucking kept it, and decided to share it with all my friends once we got to high school."

Clarke giggles and rests her head against his chest. 

"So is that why you enjoy calling me Princess so much, Bel?" 

"No, that's just my nickname for you." 

“Oh I’m sure...” she says sarcastically as she stands from his lap.

“Where are you going?” he protests, arms reaching for her. 

“To the bedroom, are you not going to follow me?”

He smirks and jumps up from the couch, following her to his room. 

\---

Bellamy and Clarke drive up to his parent’s house together in Clarke’s car, but they also pick up Bellamy’s sister along the way. 

Octavia is extremely energetic, even at the early hour they picked her up. She chats with Clarke like it’s the easiest thing in the world, like they are nothing but old friends. 

The drive is long, and they stop at a few fast food places for lunch because the Blake siblings cannot agree on one place. They also argue about what music they should listen to when they get back in the car after lunch, and Clarke finally settles it by picking herself. 

“But your music is old as fuck, Princess...” Bellamy whines from his place in the driver’s seat. 

“It is not  _ old _ . It is classic, Mr. Blake.”

“This stuff is from the 50’s, Clarke. Were your parents even born back then?” Bellamy asks with a laugh. 

Clarke forces one herself because yes, her parents were alive back then. They were born in the 20’s, in fact. But she can’t exactly tell them this. 

“It is better than listening to you two bickering,” Clarke defends.

“I like her, Bel,” Octavia says from the backseat. “She’s feisty.”

Clarke laughs before turning in her seat to give Octavia a high five.

“Oh god... I have made a big mistake...” Bellamy groans. “Now you two are just going to gang up on me all the time.”

“I like that idea. Octavia?”

“Sounds good to me,” Octavia says and they high five again. 

Their parents house is actually incredibly nice. Bellamy tells her that their mom was some big shot scientist back in her day, and their father made a lot of money when his business took off in the 90’s.

Clarke goes around to the trunk to help Bellamy with their bags, but he insists he can carry them all himself. 

Octavia runs ahead to open the door for him, but Clarke stays behind to watch him struggle. Her boyfriend is one stubborn son of a bitch. 

As soon as they walk into the house, Clarke’s heart drops. She almost pukes when she realizes the businessman and hot shot scientist who raised Bellamy and Octavia is none other than Finn and that woman she saw with him all those years ago... She hates to say that he looks good, he aged well. Not as well as she had, but no one is quite that good. The woman, his wife now apparently, is beautiful. 

He stares at Clarke. She looks no different than the last time she saw him, how could he forget... 

She feels tears threatening to show themselves, but pushes them away. This cannot be the reason her secret gets out. Bellamy means too much to her to mess it up like this. 

“Finn, Raven, this is my girlfriend-”

“Clarke,” Finn breathes. 

“Nice to meet you,” Clarke says, offering them her hand to shake. 

“Clarke Jacobs?”

Thank god she’s changed her last name since she last saw Finn... 

“My mother,” she tries, knowing she’s done for. 

“You’re named after her?” Raven asks politely. 

“You told me your mom’s name was Abby...” Bellamy looks confused. 

“Abigail was her middle name, by the time she met my dad that’s all she went by. She thought the name Clarke didn’t fit her.”

Finn clears his throat, “Well... You- you look just like her.”

“Did you know her?” Clarke asks, trying to distance herself from all this. If she denies knowing Finn, they’ll most likely believe her. 

Finn chuckles and shakes his head, “Yeah... Back in the 80’s, she was a friend...”

A friend. _A friend!_ _That’s_ all she was to him? 

Screw ladylike, Clarke wants to give Finn a piece of her mind. She wants to yell at him and tell him about all the pain he’s caused her. She wants to tell his wife just how much of a friend she was to him. 

But that is petty, and Clarke is a better woman than that. 

Finn doesn’t matter anymore. Bellamy does. 

“What a small world,” Octavia chirps, oblivious to the awkward tone that’s settled over the room. 

Bellamy chuckles beside her, “Guess so... Come on, Princess. I’ll show you to our room.”

It will definitely take more getting used to, the fact that Bellamy probably learned the nickname from his adoptive father... But she also knows that Finn probably said it to distance himself from her, and Bellamy says it solely out of affection. 

Bellamy takes her hand and leads her up the stairs. Their room is at the end of the hallway and looks out to the forest behind the house. After Bellamy sets their bags on the bed, he turns and wraps his arms around her waist. 

“Told you my parents are awkward,” he says with a crooked smile.

“I think all parents are that way... Not just yours. When I brought my first boyfriend home to meet my dad, he stared at him so long the poor boy almost cried.”

That’s actually true. Even though Clarke had grown up with her husband, her parents were still very wary of him when they started dating. 

“It’s just weird though, because Finn has never even mentioned your mom before...” Bellamy says. 

Clarke takes a deep breath as another stab of pain rips through her heart. Of course Finn never talked about her, it would expose him to his wife. But it still hurts... 

“Well my mom never mentioned him either... Maybe there is some drama there.”

“With my dad? No way. He is the most boring man in the history of everything. And besides, he’s been with Raven since they were kids, I doubt there was any drama,” he chuckles. 

Clarke clears her throat, “Umm... Where’s the restroom?”

“Right next door, on the right,” he tells her. 

She gives him a quick smile before rushing off to the bathroom, locking the door behind her and gripping the counter as she tries to push away her tears. 

She was the other woman, she’s over that by now. But to hear Bellamy say Finn has been with his wife since they were kids? That opened the wound all over again. This poor woman has no idea that her lifelong boyfriend and now husband cheated on her... Clarke probably wasn’t the only one either. Who knows how many times Finn has done this, how many girls he’s played. She feels terrible. How will she make it through this trip without saying something to Raven? Without Finn noticing or making more comments about her ‘mother’?

Before she breaks down in the bathroom of her ex boyfriend’s house, she calls the one person she can talk to about this. 

“Mom? Is everything okay?” Carter asks, answering the call on the second ring. 

“I don’t know Carter... Bellamy’s father is Finn.”

“Finn? The guy you were with in the 80’s?”

“That’s the one...” Clarke sighs. “And his wife is definitely the woman I saw him with.”

“Mom you’ve got this. Just focus on Bellamy. You said you guys would really only see his parents when you all had dinner, I’m sure you can think of ways to get Bellamy out of the house,” Carter says suggestively.

“Young lady, are you insinuating what I think you are insinuating?” Clarke lets out a laugh, knowing that was probably her daughter’s goal. 

“We both know I am no young lady, mom...”

“That may be true, but you’ll always be my little girl.”

“I love you, mom. Now go have fun. Spit in Finn’s food when no one is looking, you are the master of making men uncomfortable so I expect some good stories when you get back,” Carter says, her smile obvious in her voice. 

“I love you too, Carter. Keep me updated on Amanda will you?”

“Of course, she’s finding out the gender next week and I’ll let you know as soon as we do.”

“Sounds like a plan. Goodbye Carter.”

“Bye mom.”

Clarke stashes her phone back into her pocket and looks into the mirror to check her makeup. When she’s satisfied, she heads back into the bedroom to see Bellamy shoving some of his clothes into the wardrobe in the corner of the room. 

“Need some help there?” she says with a giggle. 

“Nah... I’ll just leave it,” he says, walking back over to her and letting his clothes fall all over the floor. Her boyfriend is not the neatest person... “You want to go for a hike?”

“Let’s do it.”

\---

They hike for a while before they both start to get hungry and head back to the house. 

Dinner is awkward, extremely so. Octavia and Raven made pizza for them all to eat, and Clarke is thankful to have the ability to drink alcohol. She sits next to Bellamy at the table, and Octavia sits on her other side. Throughout the meal, she can feel Finn’s gaze on her. He keeps staring, it’s creepy. 

Raven turns out to be really nice and Clarke is sure that if they had met outside of Finn, they would be close friends. She is witty and has this dark humor about her that Clarke enjoys. 

Finn has to take a call when they all settle in for dessert, something Clarke will never stop thanking the gods for. She enjoys spending time with everyone but him, so dessert is much better than dinner.

The next morning, Clarke gets up early to go for a run like she usually does. She has no idea how long she’d going to live, so she might as well take care of herself. 

She’s about five minutes from the house when she sees Finn approach her. She tries to mentally prepare herself for this conversation, but knows that might not be entirely possible. 

“It wasn’t your mother,” he states like she’ll know what he’s talking about. She does. 

“What do you mean?” she asks, trying to catch her breath. 

“The woman I knew, she would never have had children,” he tells her. 

“Then she obviously changed after she left you...” Clarke cannot mask the disgust in her voice. 

“I don’t understand...” he says under his breath. “There is no way you can look so much like her.”

“Well I do.”

She tries to walk away, continue her run, but he grabs her wrist, “Somehow, you’re her.”

“You’re crazy.”

“Did she really never mention me?” he seems hurt, good.

“She told me plenty,” Clarke snaps.

He sighs, “She just left... I saw her one day, and then never again...”

“She saw you with Raven,” Clarke begins and can feel herself breaking with each word. “She saw you with another woman who was not her! You kissed her! You kissed someone else! Did you ever care about me? Do you even care about Raven?! Were we the only two?! I loved you! I did. I opened up to you, you made me happy... But you are nothing but a coward, a small excuse for a man who needs the validation of any woman who offers!” 

She knows she’s given herself away. She knows her secret is out. But it felt so good to yell at him, to finally confront him for what he’d done. 

For a moment, he just watches her. Like it’s all coming together now. 

“I did love you, Clarke-”

“Then why string me along? Why not tell me? Why not break up with one of us?”

“I was young and stupid. Raven has always been there for me, from the time we were in grade school and eating paste she was there. I thought she was all I ever needed, and obviously I was right.”

“So I was nothing to you?” Clarke accuses. 

“No! You were everything to me! I love her, but I also love you.”

“Yeah well, when the other two people are not aware of the situation, it’s not exactly a healthy relationship...”

“But you don’t understand. I was so used to her love, I knew what I was going to get with Raven. Then you came along and were so interesting and exciting. I know it was foolish of me, but you can’t have the best of both worlds... I realize that now.”

Clarke shakes her head before staring down at her shoes, “Well you should have realized it sooner. Then no one would have been hurt.”

She turn to run away, but he stops her again.

“Please, don’t tell Raven,” he begs and Clarke wants to laugh. 

“You don’t tell her about me, and neither will I. And don’t say  _ anything _ about this conversation to Bellamy or Octavia.”

“Keeping secrets isn’t healthy,” he warns and this time she does laugh. 

“That’s rich coming from you.”

Clarke’s morning runs usually last about thirty minutes, she’s back before Bellamy even wakes up most days, but today she spends two hours by herself in the woods. She has several scratches on her arms from tree branches and bushes but she doesn’t care. She needed to clear her head and fresh mountain air is great for that. 

When she returns Bellamy is getting out of the shower, hair dripping wet and a towel wrapped around his waist. 

“You were gone a while...” he points out as he sits down beside her on the bed. 

She unlaces her shoes and slides them off, letting them fall to the floor. 

“It’s beautiful up here, I wanted to take it all in,” she lies smoothly. 

“I think the beauty is right here,” he says, his voice low. 

She lets out a breathy laugh, Bellamy can always pull her from a fowl mood, no matter why she was upset in the first place, “Well I am going to hop in the shower. You’re welcome to join me for... I don’t know, a second shower?”

He chuckles, standing from the bed and letting his towel fall to the floor with her shoes. 

\---

Dinner that night is better. Finn doesn’t stare like he did the night before. He doesn’t talk at all really, and makes an excuse to leave the table as soon as he finishes his food. 

Octavia insists they all play game after dinner, even dragging her father into the living room so he can play with them. 

As it turns out, Octavia is a master at Clue and creamed everyone in less than twenty minutes. Bellamy and Raven then proceeded to give the woman death glares. Apparently they were both only a few turns away from guessing. So as revenge, Raven and Bellamy teamed up in Monopoly just to beat Octavia. Clarke ended up winning the game, but Octavia came in last so that is all that matters. 

Things started to go wrong when they started playing Life...

Raven only then seemed to remember that Finn knew ‘Clarke’s mother’, and wanted to know about her. 

“So Clarke, tell me about your mother? Finn said they knew each other but I don’t remember her...” she says when Octavia is taking her turn. 

“It was when you were traveling for work, Raven. I don’t think you ever met her,” Finn chimes in. 

“Well you’ve never mentioned her until now,” Raven points out. 

“She just disappeared one day... I guess I haven’t thought about her much so I never talked about her.” Clarke knows Finn is just trying to cover his tracks like the little weasel he is, but it’s pissing her off. 

Raven laughs, “I’m amazed you even remember her Finn, I was only out of town for two weeks...”

Clarke feels her chest tighten at this new information. The more pieces of the puzzle she gets, the more she doesn’t like the picture. She was fine before she came on this trip, thinking Finn was just a scumbag who played girls. She thought that she meant nothing to him and she was okay with that. She never spent much time worrying about the woman she caught Finn with, assuming she wised up and left him. Not one time she did think the woman married him and lived happily ever after with two amazing kids... 

She wants to hit something. Finn got this perfect life, a gorgeous wife, a son and daughter who are two of the most amazing people Clarke has ever met. And what did she get? A dead husband and a daughter who will die long before her too... Clarke wasn’t even there for her own mother’s funeral because the universe decided she doesn’t get to age. She doesn’t get to meet her grandchildren or soon to be great grandkids, they all think she’s dead. And poor Carter walks around with the weight of this secret all the time as well... She gets to talk to her mother whenever she wants, but has to hide her from everyone else. Clarke can’t even imagine how that must feel. Carter doesn’t deserve this. Neither does Bellamy, or Octavia either. 

What is she doing here? Why did she think it would be a good idea to fall for Bellamy? What will she tell him? There is no way she can burden him with this, she cares about him too much... 

She knows what she must do now. 

“Princess are you okay?” Bellamy asks, a gentle hand placed on her shoulder. “You spaced out there...”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I guess I’m tired, I did get up awfully early,” she adds a small laugh to make it convincing. 

“It is getting late, Monopoly took forever,” he laughs as well. He turns away from her to address everyone else. “I think we’re going to go to bed.”

Everyone tells them goodnight and Octavia announces that she’s heading upstairs as well. When they get to their bedroom, Clarke quickly changes into her pajamas and sits on the foot of the bed. She sighs when Bellamy sits next to her.

“Bel, can I tell you something?” she asks. 

“Of course.”

“I love you, Bellamy. I really do. Before I met you, I thought I would be alone forever and that I don’t deserve anyone. I don’t deserve you, I don’t. But I am so glad I met you. I am so glad that I gave you a second chance because my first impression of you was that you were an ass. But now I know how amazing you are, and I just- I love you.”

“Are you sure everything's okay?” he asks with a chuckle. 

“Yeah. I’m sure.”

“Well then,” Bellamy says, pulling Clarke onto his lap. “I love you too, Princess.”

\---

Clarke waits until Bellamy is asleep, but she can’t seem to make herself get up. He is snoring softly beside her, looking peaceful as he sleeps. She just wants him to stay like that. But she knows this will hurt him... There is just nothing else she can do. Carter told her to have fun, so that’s what she did. She just went far beyond that as well. 

And now she has to change that. 

She quietly slips out of the bed and grabs a piece of paper and a pen from her bag. She knows exactly what to say, what she would want to hear if it was her receiving this letter. 

Finn cannot see the letter, so when she’s finished writing it, she places it in the coffee cup she has seen Raven use every morning. Then, with her bags in hand, she gets into her car. And she drives away. 

It starts snowing as she’s driving so she has to turn on the windshield wipers to be able to see anything. Sure, driving down a winding mountain road in the middle of the night probably isn’t the best idea (she can’t really see anything beyond her headlights), but she can’t stay in that house any longer. It’s time for a fresh start. She’s probably overdue for one of those by now... 

As she rounds a corner, she can see a pair of headlights coming from the other direction. They are going fast, way too fast for the tight turn, and Clarke swerves to avoid them but she’s too late and-

*****

When Bellamy wakes up alone, he assumes Clarke is still out for her run. But when he notices the snow covering the ground, he doubts that... 

“Bellamy,” Raven says as she bursts into the room, sounding worried and angry at the same time. 

“What is it?” he asks. 

She sighs and hands him a piece of paper. The writing on it is in Clarke’s neat cursive handwriting. 

_ Raven,  _

_ I do not expect you to believe me, I assume most people won’t, but I thought you deserved to know the truth. My mother did mention your husband, and she also mentioned you. She did not know your name, only your face. She said you were a beautiful woman. She only saw you for a brief moment, but she saw your husband for much longer. From the year 1982 to the year 1983 my mother had a boyfriend, and her boyfriend’s name was Finn Collins.  _

_ My mother loved him, and he loved her. She knew nothing of a woman named Raven Reyes, and Finn never mentioned her. My mother did not know she was being played until the day she saw you. She saw you with Finn and knew what he had done.  _

_ I could not stand to keep this secret any longer and thought you should know. If you blame my mother, that is fine. If you blame me, that is alright as well. I just didn’t think it was right that he did this to you and my mother. And I believe you will make the right choice about what to do with this information.  _

_ Please, if you may, tell Bellamy that I am sorry I cannot stay... I wish him the best... _

_ Clarke _

“What the fuck is this? She’s gone?” Bellamy looks around the room, and sure enough all her bags are gone. He rushes downstairs to look out the front window only to see her car is gone as well. 

He slides down the door until he’s sitting on the wall in front of it and buries his head in his hands. 

He notices his mother sit beside him and she rests her head on his shoulder. 

“What are you going to do?” he asks quietly. 

“I’m leaving with you guys. I’m going to stay with Monty... What are you going to do?” she asks. 

“I’m going to go find her.”

*****

She forces her eyes open slowly and the first thing she sees is Carter. 

“Mom!” she exclaims, standing from her chair to quickly wrap her arms around Clarke. 

She groans before hugging her daughter back. 

“What happened?” Clarke asks as Carter settles back into her chair. 

“They said you died, mom. They had to restart your heart,” Carter's voice sounds so broken and hoarse from crying. 

Clarke reaches out and takes her daughter’s hand in her own, “I’m fine, Carter. I’m okay.”

“I know, I know. But it’s still scary getting a call on my way to work saying that you were in the hospital... I’ve gotten used to the idea that you’ll be around forever, mom. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“I hope you never have to find out.”

They hear someone clear their throat and look to see Bellamy standing in the doorway, looking anxious.

“What are you doing here?” Clarke asks, not quite knowing how to feel. 

“I called him,” Carter explains. 

Clarke looks to her daughter, shock choosing to be the first emotion to show its face. “Carter... Why would you do that?”

“I’m not stupid, Clarke. You think I don’t know why you were on that road. I’m not letting you do this,” Carter whispers before standing from her chair and walking over to the door. “I’ll let you two talk.”

In this moment, Clarke thinks she may have raised her daughter  _ too _ well...

Bellamy stomps into the room and stands behind the chair that Carter was sitting in, although he doesn’t sit himself. 

“What do you think you’re doing, Princess?” he sounds vaguely annoyed with her but she can still see it in his eyes; the softness that he reserved just for her. 

Clarke makes a split second decision, she’s going to tell him. Everything. Because what else could go wrong at this point?

“You should sit, Bellamy. This may take a while,” she tells him, trying to remain calm. She’s never told someone she actually likes about this before. 

“I’m listening.”

She takes a deep breath before she begins, “My mother, the one who knew Finn, was me. I dated him...”

“What? Princess you weren’t even born in 1982...”

“But I actually was... See I was born in 1940,” she sees the confusion on Bellamy’s face so she continues. “In 1966 I got into a car accident, my car went into a lake and I nearly drowned... But, I didn’t. And I haven’t aged since. I know it sounds crazy, and it is. Carter, the woman who called you, she’s my daughter.”

“So you’re 75 years old?” he asks. 

“Technically, yes. But I stopped aging when I was 26.”

Bellamy takes a deep breath before looking back at her, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Clarke shrugs, “At first, I thought you’d be fun. I thought that you could give me an escape from living the same life over and over. But then I fell in love with you and I knew I’d have to leave eventually because you’d turn 40 and wonder why I didn’t look 36...” she feels tears stinging behind her eyes and she does nothing to stop them. “I can give you forever, Bellamy. But I can’t grow old with you. Eventually we wouldn’t be able to be in public together because people would think it’s weird to see an graying man with a bright young girl... I never let myself get this close to anyone. Finn was a mistake and... I didn’t want you to be a mistake too.”

Bellamy places his hand on her cheek and wipes away her tears with his thumb. 

“Clarke, a few good years with you would be better than never seeing you again. I can’t let you go, I won’t.”

“But the goodbye will be painful...”

“I don’t care. I love you so much, Princess. I would sacrifice anything for you.”

She laughs a watery laugh and rests her forehead against his, “Thank you.”

“For what?” he whispers. 

“For understanding.”

\---

“Let’s go, Princess! We’re going to be late,” Bellamy calls down the hallway. 

It’s Octavia’s birthday and she’s invited all her friends to her apartment for a party, and as her brother, Bellamy thinks it would be rude to not be the first one there. 

Clarke is quickly brushing her hair back into a ponytail when she sees it. Her heart probably stops and her breathing definitely does. She can’t help the breathy laugh that escapes her as she plucks the hair from her head. 

It’s gray. 

She has a gray hair!

She doesn’t even notice she’s crying until Bellamy is knocking on the door, asking if she’s alright. It would be nothing to most people, but to Clarke this is everything. 

Bellamy keeps knocking when she doesn’t say anything, so she swings open the door and wraps her arms around Bellamy in a bone-crushing hug. 

“Is everything okay?” he asks, his hand running up and down her back as she sobs into his shoulder. 

“Everything is great,” she mumbles into his shirt. 

“Why are you crying, Princess?”

She pulls away and beams up at him, “I have a gray hair.”

“Okay...” he doesn’t seem to understand.

“I’m aging, Bellamy!” she tells him and he smiles along with her. 

“You’re sure?”

She nods, “We can grow old together, Bel! This is actually happening!” 

This time Bellamy hugs her, lifting her into the air and spinning her around. 

Clarke thinks this is the second happiest moment in her long, long life. The number one moment will always been when her daughter was born, but this is a close second. In her many years traveling the country she has seen so many amazing things, but she still wished every day that she’d never gotten in that car accident all those years ago. 

When she met Bellamy, she stopped questioning this. She knew she was meant to meet him, even if they couldn’t spend together forever as they both wanted. 

But now? Now that is a possibility. Clarke will get a chance to grow old, something that has eluded her for fifty years. 

She thinks it was probably defibrillator they used to bring her back, it’s the only thing that makes sense. Maybe she isn’t supposed to know why this happened, or know how either... She’s just glad it’s over and she gets to spend whatever time she has left with Bellamy. 

When he finally sets her back on the ground, Clarke fixes her makeup and they head to Octavia’s party. Clarke calls Carter on the way to tell her the news. 

“Hi mom, what’s up?” Carter says happily when she answers the call. 

“I’m aging, Carter,” Clarke tells her. 

There is a long pause before Carter laughs, “Seriously?”

“Seriously. I found a gray hair... It’s not much I know, but... I just feel it, Carter.”

“I’m so happy for you mom.”

\---

Aging is a blessing to Clarke. With it came the opportunity to meet her grandchildren and great grandchildren. They, of course, did not know who she really was. Carter explained to them that Clarke was a friend, and that is good enough for her. 

She gets the chance to be with Bellamy, knowing that she can be truthful with him and give him everything he deserves. She moves in with him a few months after she finds the gray hair and Bellamy proposes a couple months after that. 

They have a beautiful wedding, much more extravagant than Clarke’s first. Everything was perfect, even if they didn’t get to sign a marriage license. 

76 years, 50 of which were spent alone. Clarke is 76 years old when she gets her happy ending. And she wouldn’t have it any other way. 

**Author's Note:**

> Richard Harmon is actually in this movie, so the kid Clarke gets her new identity from is Murphy.


End file.
